Titanium carbide (TiC) has a high melting point, hardness and wear resistance. Therefore, it has been used for preparations of cermets, cutting tool tips and wear resistant coatings. Recently, TiC has attracted attention as a precursor for developing porous carbonaceous materials with pore sizes on the order of a few nanometers. Such materials are called “carbide derived carbon” (CDC). The synthesis of CDC is based upon selective removal of the Ti metal from a metal carbide. For example, the Ti can be removed from TiC using chlorine (Cl2) gas at elevated temperatures.
Large pore volumes together with the concomitant high specific surface areas make CDC useful in applications including catalyst support, gas storage and super-capacitors. In addition, such materials have superior thermal conductivity and can therefore also be used as phase change materials in thermal energy systems.
To date, however, nano-scale TiC materials are only available as particles, powders, and thin films. Thus, no one has yet devised a system for making continuous TiC nanofibers, or nano-fibrous felts formed from such nanofibers. As will be shown, the present invention provides exactly such a system.